Silicon-Valley-based NGO reinforces its activities around the globe and introduces its innovative copyright licenses in Slovenia.

San Francisco, CA, USA and Berlin, GERMANY, Ljubljana SLOVENIA — October 28, 2005 — Creative Commons, a nonprofit dedicated to building a body of creative work free to share and build upon, will launch the localization of the innovative licensing system in Slovenia as part of a four day Festival of Creativity and Free Culture.

Creative Commons copyright licenses are available free of charge from the group’s website. The licenses allow authors and artists to mark their works as free to copy or transform under certain conditions—to declare “some rights reserved,” in contrast to the traditional “all rights reserved”—thereby enabling others to access a growing pool of raw materials without legal friction.

Staff at Creative Commons’ offices in San Francisco and Berlin worked with Project Lead Maja Bogataj Jančič, from the Intellectual Property Institute, and Špela Kučan of Ljubljana Digital Media Lab LJUDMILA, who supervised the technical team, to adapt the standardized licenses to Slovenian law.

The licenses will be launched as part of the Festival of Creativity and Free Culture in Ljubljana, which is honored to have the support of Dr. Janez Drnovšek, the President of the Republic of Slovenia. The festival will include an international legal seminar, hosted by Open Society Institute, on October 28 during which Lawrence Lessig, Chairman & CEO of Creative Commons, will give a lecture titled “Should Copyright Include the Exclusive Right to Copy?” The lecture coincides with the promotion of the Slovenian translation of Lessig’s book “Free Culture.”

The localized version of CC licensing system will be unveiled at the CC Launch on Saturday October 29. The launch will consist of performances of world renown violinist Maja Cerar and the duet Random Logic, who will perform a piece by composer and computer musician Douglas Geers. Greers’ pieice “Obsessive Currents”, which is CC licensed, was itself inspired by the public domain works of Bach and Ysaÿe. During the launch, the CC-licensed work of other local artists will also be showcased. Project leads from other Creative Commons teams in Brazil, Italy and Croatia will attend the launch together with Chairman & CEO Lawrence Lessig.

Read more about the Festival program

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About Intellectual Property Institute

The Intellectual Property Institute (IPI) is a research, academic and training institution in the field of intellectual property law. It was founded in 2004 and is the first institution of its kind in Slovenia. The Institute conducts research, provides education and offers training opportunities in the field of intellectual property law. The primary focus of its activities is to explore the challenges that digitalization has brought to intellectual property law and are important for the progress of an information-based society. The Institute aims to work in close cooperation with Slovenian universities, research institutions, industry, art centers and civil society groups. Its objective is to create a strong network of partnership with researchers and research institutions at home and abroad. Since its recent founding, the Institute has participated in many discussions regarding various intellectual property issues, and managed to mark the landscape of the debate with its perspective.
For more information visit the IPI website or contact Maja Bogataj Jančič.

More about LJUDMILA

LJUDMILA – Ljubljana Digital Media Lab, founded by a group of new media artists and activists living and working in Ljubljana in 1994, has extensive experience connecting new media technologies and artistic projects as well as encouraging broader, savvier and more creative uses of new technologies. Initially funded by the OSI-Slovenia Internet program, Ljudmila has grown into a well-equipped digital media lab that focuses on digital production as well as education, research and development of open standards software. It also provides knowledge, equipment, Internet access, web sites, electronic publishing and other affordable networking services to non-governmental and non-profit organizations, art collectives, active individuals, and others. Ljudmila operates through Culture & Arts Centre KUD France Prešeren.

For more information visit the LJUDMILA website or contact Špela Kučan.

About Creative Commons

A nonprofit corporation founded in 2001, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works—whether owned or in the public domain—by empowering authors and audiences. It is sustained by the generous support of the Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, and the Hewlett Foundation.

For general information, visit the group’s website.

Contact

Maja Bogataj Jančič
Director, Intellectual Property Institute
Email

Christiane Asschenfeldt
Executive Director iCommons, Creative Commons
Email

Mia Garlick
General Counsel, Creative Commons
Email

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